Polish Migration and Emigration

[gigi]

Polonia, the name for Poland in Latin and many Romance and other languages, refers in modern Polish to the Polish diaspora—people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders. There are roughly 15–20 million people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland. Reasons for their displacement vary from border shifts to forced resettlement to political or economic emigration. Major Polish minorities can be found in the United States, Germany, France, and Brazil.

A large proportion of the Polish citizens who migrated in the early twentieth century were Polish Jews, and are also a part of the Jewish diaspora.

Here is a link to more information about the Polish diaspora, including some statistics by county:

culture.polishsite.us/articles/art79fr.htm

[gigi]

Polska Osada na Tureckiej Ziemi
(Polish Settlement on Turkish Land)

Saturday, August 23, 2008
Marzena Romanowska
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News


For six generations and 167 years, the residents of Polonezköy on the Asian side of İstanbul have introduce their Turkish neighbors to Polish traditions and culture.

'Our situation is extraordinary,' used to describe the position of Polish residents of Polonezköy Zofia Ryzy, who lived there all her life, 'Poland is our motherland, but Adampol on the Bosporus is like Poland with all its traditions on the Turkish soil'.

The asphalt road leading to Polonezköy, or Adampol, as residents call it, was constructed only 10 years ago. Nowadays, especially in spring and fall, hundreds of vehicles use it to get to this peaceful oasis in the outskirts of Istanbul.

People escaping from the city noise come here to enjoy the best of what the green countryside has to offer, but not many of them actually know how deeply it is buried in history. Many have visited or at least heard about the place, but only a few can connect the village to its Polish roots.

Antoni Dochoda, an authority on the history of Polonezköy, knows the stories of all local families. 'My grandfather was a prisoner, caught by Circassians during the Crimean war 1854-56,' he began his story. 'At the time of partition of Poland, the largest part of the country was annexed by Russia, and so was the Polish army. The soldiers, who didn't want to fight for the invaders, deserted to the Ottoman side', said Dochoda. But there are also other stories. The grandfather of Ziolkowski family was an officer on a German war vessel, which was later given to Turkey in order to make the country participate in the war, and that is how he came to Turkey. Wincenty Ryzy, patriot and political activist, arrived in Adampol after an exile in Siberia. His youngest daughter, Zofia, adapted their family house to the culture center, which due to its family character is known as "Aunt Zosia's" home.

Polish immigrants, who found themselves scattered in all parts of Europe, organized themselves into numerous patriotic societies. One such society in France established a representative in Istanbul in order to help buy back many of their compatriots who had been sold into slavery in Turkey. The group made contact with a French order living in present day Polonezköy to establish a shelter for Polish refugees. The village then became settlement, with a special regulation allowing only Poles to settle there.

Between 1842, when the community was established, and the end of 19th century the Polish population grew to 150. However, not all family names survived. 'Due to difficult conditions, many families migrated abroad, mostly to Australia and Canada,' said Dochoda. 'I was also considering to migrate, but in the end we only moved to the center of Istanbul. I decided to come back 10 years ago when the transportation system was improved.' Currently Dochoda runs a prestigious restaurant complex, named Leonardo, which is visited by many prominent guests such as Aleksander Kwasniewski, the former president of Poland.

No public bus goes directly to Polonezköy. The residents kindly rejected the municipality's offer to establish a line as they were afraid that visiting crowds might not appreciate the history and culture they had managed to preserve. 'We do not complain about the lack of popularity,' said Daniel Ohotsky, the mayor of Polonezköy. 'It is very easy to get here once you have a car. Many renowned Turkish personalities come to visit us, as well as to settle.' He declined to give any names, saying, 'It is their private life and we respect it.'

The stories of Polish settlers continued in the 20th century, but the problems they faced turned out to be different. 'Newcomers were needed to maintain the Polish population in Polonezköy,' Dochoda laughed. 'That's how my mother got here before the war; to marry my father.' Nowadays there are a lot of intermarriages between Poles and Turks, which are definitely not considered as a threat to the Polish culture.

"I know many Turkish wives here who are cultivating Polish rituals much more than the Polish ones do,' said Ohotski. 'And on all special occasions and holidays we meet all together.'

Polonezköy has both a church and a mosque, Christian and Muslim holidays are equally celebrated, and both imam and priest take part in weddings and funerals. 'There is no other place like this,' said Dochoda. 'We never quarrel.'

The village has started changing from typically agricultural to tourist as early as the late 1920s, but the real boom came in the '70s. The residents of Polonezköy were renting rooms in their own houses, offering guests a wide range of homemade delicacies. The quality turned into a brand, gaining its own customers in Istanbul, who started visiting the place more often and bringing other people with them.

Newly built guesthouses created more employment opportunities and the village continued to develop. 'Polonezköy has very good relations with Beykoz municipality, which supports and contributes to the changes we initiate,' said Ohotski. 'Last year we opened the first and only BMX Park in Turkey.'

Last week Polonezköy was hosting a sculpture workshop, organized by academies of fine arts from Istanbul and Krakow, Poland. But there are many more examples of international cooperation between the two countries.

"We have a few partner towns in Poland,' said the mayor. 'Soon we're going to present our village at a festival in Zakopane.'

One of the oldest partners of Polonezköy is Przemysl, located in the southeastern part of Poland. The idea of cooperation between those two townships began in 1912, when a group of tourists took a picture of Polonezköy and presented it to the local museum. "Current activities, such as a youth exchange, are organized due to the contribution of a Turk living in Przemysl. Although originally from Zonguldak, she is a wonderful promoter of Polonezköy,' the mayor said.

In Adampol, everyone knows the story in which the Ottoman sultan hoped for an ambassador from an officially nonexistent country. During the period when Poland was divided among three countries and therefore did not exist on the map, the sultan declared that he continued to recognize the country and expressed publicly his great support for the Polish cause. And he was continuously concerned about the arrival of an ambassador from "Lehistan", the name given to Poland by the Ottomans. The same story is told to polish school kids in their history classes.

[Bonobo]

Rich heritage

A dollar bill reflects a Polish father and son's journey from World War II Europe to the United States.



Michael Kedzior and his father, Ed Kedzior, hold a framed dollar bill with signatures of various GIs given to Ed's father when he immigrated to the United States after being forced from his native Poland during World War II. MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World

By SUSAN HYLTON
Tulsa World
6/21/2009
CLAREMORE — Ed Kedzior's Father's Day gift wasn't a day late and a dollar short this year.

He's always held tight to the dollar bill that was his ticket to America.

"If that dollar could tell a story it probably would be a story in itself," Kedzior said.

But the dollar has a story that Kedzior, 64, didn't fully appreciate and share with his children until he opened the door to his Polish ancestry.

"I kept my Polish background very quiet," Kedzior said. "I wanted to be more of an American. I just wasn't very comfortable being Polish. It's something I'm not very proud of. It was just not the 'in' thing at the time."

His transformation came after traveling to Poland in 1996 and visiting the ancient city of Krakow.

"I didn't realize how cultured that city is," he said.

It was there that he met someone a lot like himself: a Polish American, who was now a grandfather, and realized that he wanted to fill in the gaps of his family history gaps that were created during the turmoil of World War II.

Kedzior said his father didn't talk much about what it was like during the war.

"I think it was an experience he just wanted to keep to himself," Kedzior said. "You have a lot of questions after they're gone."
Born in a labor camp
Ed Kedzior is a mechanical engineer who has resided with his family in Claremore since 1980.
But he was born in 1945 in a labor camp in Erding, Germany, where his parents worked on adjoining farms after being taken by the Nazis from their Polish villages in 1940 as teenagers.

Boleslaw "Benny" and Kazimeria "Kay" Kedzior worked long hours for which they were never paid. They wore a triangle patch with the letter "P" on it.

"He wasn't mistreated, but his freedoms were taken away," Kedzior said. "He knew not all Germans were bad people. He kind of dwelt on the good and not the bad. That was a strong character point he had."

The GIs they met at a displaced persons camp after the war were charmed by Ed Kedzior, then a toddler. They put their helmets on him and took him on tank rides. One of the soldiers even wanted to adopt him.

But Kedzior's father would not part with his son. He also wasn't going back to Poland because it was controlled by the Russians and he could not stay in a country where the Nazis had robbed him of his home, education and religion.

"My father wasn't going back to any tyranny," Kedzior said.

The GIs had everything to do with his father wanting to come to America. They gave him something that they thought his child, who had no country, might need to get through Ellis Island. It was a dollar bill that more than a dozen of them signed as references.

It worked, and immigration officials spelled their last name right to boot.
'To me it's priceless'
His father once tried to find the soldiers but was unsuccessful. The ink has faded, but the writing looks to say:

* Pfc Ralph C. Langefeld — Cincinnati, Ohio

* M.S. Tudzin — San Antonio, Texas

* Elmer Parker — Minnesota

* Jim(?) Eichler — Syracuse, N.Y.

* Pfc Albert M. Patton/Peterson?

* A. Gelement — Detroit, Mich.

* Robert Kundt — Wisconsin

* Walter L. Sageth — Nashville, Tenn.

* Anthony Rejna

* Gilbert R. Butler — Colorado

* W.C. Taft

* Ofc E. Roth (?) — Detroit



"To me it's priceless," Ed Kedzior said of the bill.

For both Kedzior and son Michael Kedzior, the discovery of their Polish heritage has given new meaning to what being an American and living peacefully in a diverse country is all about.

Benny Kedzior may not have had a high school education, but he did speak three languages when he got to New York. In addition to his native Polish, he picked up German and French at the labor camp.

He was required to get a job within a week to pay back the Catholic Church, which paid for his journey by ship to America.

The elder Kedzior's first job was as a janitor for a Jewish German family. It was through them, and being able to communicate with them, that he learned of a better job at a meat-packing plant in Jamaica, N.Y.
The girl next door
"My father was a great salesman. He knew no one in the U.S.," Ed Kedzior said. "He was a man who wanted to do better and if it meant learning another language or doing something you might not want to do, he did it. I'm a firm believer that there's no free lunch."

Ed Kedzior took a crash course in English as a Polish-speaking kindergarten student in New York City and attended college at the encouragement of his father.

The Kedziors finally settled in Wallingford, Conn., where the father worked in a steel mill. It was there that Ed Kedzior met the girl next door, literally, and married her. Genny Kedzior was also born in Poland. The couple have two other children, daughters Wendy and Tracy.

Ed Kedzior has visited Poland several times now and has met cousins and an uncle. He's also become a bit of a history buff when it comes to Poland and its contributions to America and the world. He's studied the battles on Polish soil that are less known perhaps, but with enormous casualties.

"Each time I go I find out a little more. I made the decision that I'd write my memoirs to pass down to the kids," Ed Kedzior said.

It was a long road from Poland, a labor camp in Bavaria, a displaced persons camp in the American zone of post-war Germany, the docks of Ellis Island, a tenement in Lower Manhattan, Connecticut, and finally, to Claremore.

Michael Kedzior, a University of Tulsa football receiver in the early '90s, said if one small thing in this specific chain of events had been different, it might not have led him to his life in Claremore where he resides with his wife and family.

[Bonobo]

West gave Poles security; home harder to findDPA
2009-08-10

Warsaw - Waldemar Wojtowicz was working in an electronics factory in Szydlowiec, a small town south of Warsaw, when he decided it was time to emigrate. But when he and other Poles of his generation left Poland in the 1980s, no one could have predicted that the Communist leadership would abandon its monopoly on power and that democracy would return so quickly.

By the time Lech Walesa, the former Solidarity leader, had become president in 1990, many emigrants had already gotten settled in their new lives overseas. The obstacles to returning were now personal, rather than political.

Similar situations abounded across Eastern Europe. There, too, people left family and friends in search of greater freedom or economic opportunity. Some returned home and managed to start successful businesses; others who came back were subjected to scorn by their former countrymen.

The moribund, self-styled socialism of the former Yugoslavia drove many, such as Goran Jevic, to seek a better life abroad.

In early 1989, Jevic, then 27, and his wife, Snezana, left Belgrade for Australia. There, they worked hard and saved enough to launch their own restaurant-boutique .

After the regime of Slobodan Milosevic fell, they decided to return to Belgrade, now with a teenage son. Today they run a successful restaurant and catering service in the Serbian capital. But it isn't easy, and Jevic doesn't rule out a move back to Australia.

When his son reaches college age, "we may pack everything up and leave again," Jevic says.

In the Czech Republic, Jan Svejnar, an economist who emigrated to the US and then returned home, unsuccessfully ran for the Czech presidency in 2008. He was attacked by supporters of his rival, Vaclav Klaus, for being an emigrant.

It was the mid-1980s when Wojtowicz and two friends left Poland, having given up any hope that the political system would soon change. They had experienced food shortages for many years and martial law between 1981 and 1983. Because of their activity in anti-Communism movements, the authorities had made their lives miserable.

Stan Zdziech 56, like Wojtowicz a one-time resident of Szydlowiec, now lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is a painting contractor. The former president of the Solidarity union at an electronics factory knew it was time to go after a suspected assassination attempt in 1982.

Anna Kiljanski, 52, who resides in Columbus, Ohio, said it was hard to see back in 1985, when she left Poland, that the end of Communist rule was just around the corner. Then she was a housewife living in Lodz. She spent a year and a half with her husband and daughter in Berlin before they settled down permanently in the US.

Wojtowicz, who now lives in Federal Way, Washington, realized the time had come to emigrate when authorities said there was no room for his son at the local kindergarten.

But the move wasn't easy or necessarily and the West didn't always live up to their expectations.

"At first it was the distance between Australia and Poland. It was scary," Zdziech said. "It wasn't as colorful as it was in brochures, but that's just because of the role of imagination. "

Other, like Wojtowicz, had it hard too. Arriving in Reno, Nevada, with his wife and two children was an eye-opener.

"We didn't have anything to eat, and after a few hours they gave us a glass of water," he said. "That was the moment in my life that I was hopeless and helpless. I was in a strange place, far away with no language and nobody to tell it to."

Others found sponsors or charities that provided help in their first months abroad.

"There were so many people waiting for us with welcome signs and flowers, that I felt I was dreaming," Kiljanski said of her arrival in Ohio to local church sponsors. "It was like having good friends taking care of you in the beginning."

Then came 1998, the collapse of the Communist Party and the host of other changes across Eastern Europe.

But by then, many Polish emigrants had become successful. They had good jobs, homes, cars and children attending college. Yet Poland tempted them as they watched the transformations with amazement on TV.

Some heard the call. Others didn't.

"I went to visit in the winter three years ago. That cured my nostalgia," said Zdziech, who says the country's corruption and ailing heath-care system keep hundreds of Polish-Australians from returning.

But Wojtowicz still hopes to return and says he's waiting for the recession in the US to pass so he can sell off his property. He became more certain about the prospect after he launched an auto- repair shop in Szydlowiec and sent his son Mark there to check up on the investment. Mark decided to stay.

"One day he called and said, 'Dad, do I have to come back to the United States?'" Wojtowicz said.

[Bonobo]

On Polish footprints in Ýstanbul

Today's Zaman

9/8/09

The Ottoman Empire always maintained key strategic relationships with many European powers. Consequently, Ýstanbul, the empire's capital for centuries, has always been an important crossroads for migrants of every description.

The Polish community is just one of the numerous foreign communities that have left their indelible footprints throughout the city.

Indeed, the history of Turkish-Polish relations dates back to the first quarter of the 15th century. Initial contact between the Ottoman Empire and Poland (then Poland-Lithuania) began in 1414 with a Polish mission sent to Bursa, the empire's first major capital city. The first official diplomatic relations between the two dynasties started in 1439, followed soon by the first trade agreement and the first political treaty in 1489. Moreover, during the following centuries, the two countries signed no less than 27 bilateral peace treaties, the so-called "ahdnames." Starting in 1444 and ending in 1699, this series of Ottoman-Polish treaties is said to be the longest sequence of documented Ottoman agreements with a European state preserved until today. The treaties' Ottoman copies can be found in part in the Prime Minister's Ottoman Archives (Basbakanlýk Osmanlý Arþivi) in Ýstanbul.

Despite eventual wars that occasionally emerged from territorial conflicts in the Black Sea region, the two countries maintained good relations throughout the centuries. Being in close geographical proximity since the late Middle Ages, they cooperated jointly against the expanding Habsburg dynasty and the emerging Grand Duchy of Muscovy, the later Russia.

Relations have been especially strong since the 18th century. When in 1772 Austria-Hungary, Russia and Prussia signed a treaty to share Poland amongst each other, the Ottoman Empire didn't accept that, and thus, it was the only major power in the world that never recognized the dissolution and partitioning of Poland between the three powers. Moreover, Constantinople (Ýstanbul) remained the only capital city in the world to maintain a "Polish ambassador" until the end of World War I and the subsequent recreation of Poland.

Consequently, when in the 19th century, many Polish veterans of the Polish November Uprising and the January Uprising against the occupation came to Turkey, the empire expressed special loyalty to the Polish people.

At that time, many Polish officers served in the Ottoman Army. Polish Gen. Marian Langiewicz spent many years in Turkey, fighting in the Ottoman Army. His grave can be found in the Haydarpaþa Cemetery. Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz spent the last months of his life in Ýstanbul and died there. The house where he lived was later transformed into the Adam Mickiewicz Museum, in the Beyoðlu district of Ýstanbul, displaying some manuscripts by Mickiewicz, historical documents and paintings. A crypt where Mickiewicz was temporarily buried for the period of one month is located in the basement.

Polonezköy -- a Polish village in Ýstanbul

Responding to the wishes of Prince Adam Czartoryski -- the first president of the Polish National Government, who found exile in France -- the sultan granted the growing immigrant community some land for settlement on the Asian side of Ýstanbul, within the boundaries of today's Beykoz district: "Polonezköy" (Turkish for "the Polish village") or "Adampol" ("Town of Adam" in Polish) was founded in 1842.

The leadership of the commune was given to Micha? Czajkowski, a representative of Prince Adam and first administrator of the Polish Representative Office in Ýstanbul who also served in the Ottoman Army. After converting to Islam in 1850, he took the name of Mehmet Sadýk Paþa.

In fact, in the beginning, it is documented that there were no more than four inhabitants in the small Polish agricultural colony. Though, over the course of time, the village developed and was soon flooded by hundreds of immigrants who had escaped from Poland during rebellions or later during the Crimean War in 1853. Later on, after the founding of the Turkish Republic, the inhabitants received Turkish citizenship in 1938.

There is still a Polish minority in the village. Around 40 of the roughly 1,000 people in Polonezköy speak Polish fluently. However, Polonezköy has become a very popular tourist attraction and has gained a reputation as a holiday spot for Ýstanbulites, which during the summertime populate the numerous hotels, pensions and restaurants and enjoy the gorgeous green areas and sport facilities. Nonetheless, it is still worth paying the village a visit and having a look at the place's Polish heritage preserved now for more than 150 years.

Directly at the entrance of the village, a visitor is welcomed by Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, which was built in 1900-1914 as a religious center for the Polish residents. It was renovated in 1918. The Polish Cemetery, located right behind the church, preserves the graves of 92 inhabitants of the village, including Ludwiga S'niadecka, who was a beloved of Polish poet Juliusz S?owacki. It is worth having a look around the well-renovated Memorial House of Zofia Rizi, a Polish female intellectual who promoted the mother tongue and history of Poland among the youth in the village throughout her life. The house of the Rizi family is said to have been one of the most magnificent houses in the whole village and actually played the role of a culture center. Serving as a museum today, it includes the richest collection of Polish literature in Turkey, next to souvenirs, old and new photos, books and documents and historic interior decoration.

Last but not least, the traditional Polonezköy Cherry Festival is organized annually during the second and third weekends of June. With the participation of politicians, local dancers and visitors coming from Poland, it is surely a unique event in Ýstanbul, including everything from cultural presentations, art and handicraft exhibitions, traditional food, folk dancing, music and many more activities.

Info: For more information about Polonezköy, you should check the village's Web site at www.polonezk oy.com

[Bonobo]

Muslims, Christians pray together in Polonezköy
JUSTÄ°NA SZEWCZYK
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Friday, November 6, 2009

Muslims, Christians pray together in Polonezköy



Poles in and Turks greeted each other warmly as the priest at the small church in Polonezköy, a village on Istanbul's Asian outskirts settled by Polish emigrants in the 19th century, invited worshippers to exchange the peace during the All Saints' Day mass on Nov. 1.

Muslim Turks participating in a Christian ritual was "normal for Polonezköy," an elderly inhabitant of the town said. The priest conducted the mass in both Polish and Turkish so that everyone could participate. After the mass, the congregants commemorated the deceased at a nearby cemetery with flowers while the priest blessed the gravestones with holy water, just as he would in Poland.

The cemetery reflects the story of Polonezköy. The majority of the oldest graves belong to Polish soldiers, combatants in many national uprisings during the 19th century. The Ottoman state was the only one in Europe that did not recognize Russian, Prussian and Austrian's late-18th century partitions of Poland.

In 1841, Duke Adam Czartoryski sent emissary MichaÅ‚ Czajkowski from Paris to Istanbul to negotiate the establishment of a Polish colony there. One year later, Sultan Abdülmecid I granted Istanbul's Polish mission the right to take land from the Lazarite Order and establish a semi-autonomous Polish settlement, Adampol, named after Czartoryski.

"Thank the Lord, who gave us this land where we can pray for Poland and talk about Poland in Polish – let's pray and act righteously and God will return us to our Motherland," Czajkowski, also known as Mehmet Sadık PaÅŸa after he converted to Islam and served in the Ottoman army, said in a letter during the initial settlement period.

Speaking Polish in Poland was forbidden under Prussian and Russian rule, but Adampol was a safe haven for Polish patriots. Poles not only found refuge in the Sultan's land, but also fought on the side of the Ottomans in the Crimean War (1853-56) against the Russians.

By the end of the 19th century approximately 150 Poles lived in the village. Even in 1918 after Poland finally re-gained its independence, the Poles in Adampol remained in Turkey. Today, there are about 750 inhabitants in Polonezköy, 90 of whom are of Polish origin.

"We are Turks with Polish origin," said Antoni Dohoda, one of the elderly inhabitants. "I was a Turkish officer," he said proudly. The Polish-Turkish friendship seen in Polonezköy is indeed amazing: The villagers said it was natural to see Polish and Turkish flags flying side-by-side or flowers from the gendarmerie at Czartoryski' s monument.

On one side of Adam Mickiewicz St., named for a famous Polish writer who died in Istanbul in 1855, there is both a Catholic church and a mosque just a few meters away from each other. "We go to weddings together, funerals and we carry coffins for each other when needed," said Dohoda, somewhat surprised at the question about religious issues.

Dohoda said he was not worried about the loss of Polish culture and language. Though there is now much intermarriage in the community, he said this was a worldwide trend. Whatever the case, religious and cultural life in the community remains strong – mass is held every Saturday evening, after which Sister Arleta leads a number of children in religious study. Also, the children prepare a nativity play for the birth of Jesus every Christmas.

Recently, land from the graves of Adam Czartoryski and MichaÅ‚ Czajkowski were brought to Polonezköy and placed in symbolic graves in a ceremony attended by Polish President Lech KaczyÅ„ski. Indeed, the town often receives visits from Polish heads of state during their trips to Turkey, having hosted former presidents Lech WaÅ‚Ä™sa and Aleksander KwaÅ›niewski in the past.

Polonezköy keeps ties not only with Poland, where children go every year for holidays, but also with similar Polish migrant communities in Romania. In October, Polonezköy welcomed 12 children and two teachers from Nowy Soloniec in Romania.

"We also want to establish connections with Polish towns in Georgia. The origins of these villages are the same – they were built by Polish patriots," said Polonezköy Mayor Daniel Ohotski. These meetings with other Polish children motivate interest in Polish culture and help to maintain the language, he said.

Polonezköy is not just a heritage park for Polish culture, but also a beautiful destination for residents of Istanbul seeking a quiet place for a weekend getaway. Hotels and restaurants offering traditional Polish and Turkish food attract Istanbul clientele.

The fact that there is no public transportation connecting Polonezköy to Istanbul helps to maintain the peacefulness of the village. Moreover, Ohotski is not very enthusiastic about the idea of having a public bus – "That would bring too many people. It is good the way it is now," he said.

[Bonobo]

Foreign Ministry: 1/3 of Poles live abroad
17.12.2009 17:17

One third of the Polish nation lives outside of the country, and 70 percent of that population does not speak Polish.

With approximately 12 million Poles living outside of Poland, a Foreign Ministry report shows that this population maintains less and less contact with Polonia organizations and are poorly-versed in Polish history.

Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Borkowski points out that those who have left Poland to reside in other European Union countries do experience problems.

“They are not always ready to work on a new market, they are not always linguistically qualified, they are hired below their qualifications – all of this generates problems,” says Borkowski.

Senate commissioner for emigrants issues, Andrzej Person, says that it is especially important to encourage the Polish language amongst immigrant’s children in order to make it easier to come to Poland.

Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s Foreign Minister, announced that the government supports Polonia organizations in Germany which promote right of the national minority residing in Poland’s western neighbour. Sikorski will hold talks tomorrow with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle and will touch on the topic of the Polish minority in the country.

MP Person says that, this year, the Senate allocated 75 million zloty (almost 18 million euro) to aid Poles abroad – most of the money was spent to aid immigrant Poles in Lithuania and Ukraine.

[Bonobo]

Finding peace in a Polish orphanage

Ania McNamara, a St. Mary's University student, wrapped one of many presents to give to children in an orphanage in Poland where she lived with her sisters before their adoption by an American family.

A St. Mary's University student finds the place where she and her three sisters were adopted 16 years ago.

By JESSICA LARSEN

Winona Daily News

November 27, 2009

WINONA, MINN. - Ania McNamara clutched a napkin bearing a hand-drawn map as she walked down a barren street in Chotomow, Poland. She came to the spot the store clerk had marked and looked up at the building. It was the same green gate from her memories.

The sign read, "Dom Dziecka," the House of Children.

A few kids ran through the yard as McNamara made her way up the path. "Where are the sisters?" she asked in Polish. One pointed toward the house. McNamara made her way to the door and knocked.

"Can I speak to the sisters?" she asked the little girl who opened the door. The child disappeared into the orphanage and soon returned with an old nun.

In broken Polish, McNamara tried to explain who she was. But she didn't need to. Sister Elizabeth knew.

"The eyes of little Ania," Sister Elizabeth exclaimed.

McNamara, a 20-year-old student at Saint Mary's University in Winona, returned in April to the orphanage where she and her three sisters were adopted 16 years ago. In Europe studying for a semester, McNamara had become haunted by the fact that her birthplace was so nearby. Her friends had already flown home, but she decided to stay, to find her birthplace and the nuns who raised her.

Standing in the doorway to the orphanage, McNamara didn't recognize Sister Elizabeth. But the nun hadn't forgotten McNamara's striking blue eyes. Sister Elizabeth left and returned with a photo pressed to her chest. She turned it around for McNamara to see. It was McNamara and her three sisters with their adoptive mom 16 years ago.

"I just started crying," McNamara said. "It was equivalent to meeting my real parents."

For the next four hours, the nuns talked with McNamara through a translator -- a teacher from nearby who knew English. She asked questions about the orphanage and the children there. She saw her old room again. And the same 16 narrow stair steps she used to run up and down.

The orphanage hadn't changed much. Photos of past popes hung in the doorway. Children still prayed in the pews of the chapel and made mud pies in the sandbox. The nuns still wore black habits.

But there were differences, too. The older children no longer all sleep in one large room. And the orphanage has computers now.

McNamara has little chance of ever finding her birth parents. The orphanage has no records, and most of what McNamara knows about her parents has come from the memories of the nuns who raised her.

They say McNamara and her sisters were left to them after their mother abandoned the family. Her father cared for the girls for a while, but eventually left them at the orphanage when he could no longer keep up. He visited infrequently, then stopped coming altogether.

McNamara isn't bothered not knowing her father and mother, and she doesn't blame her father for leaving her. He did the responsible thing, she says.

Back at the orphanage, McNamara's visit was coming to an end. She had a plane to catch. She said her goodbyes to the nuns and promised to stay in touch.

"I got back on the bus and wanted to tell everyone," she said, "but no one would understand me."

Consumed by memories

When McNamara got back to Winona in April, she told her friends about the visit. She could hardly believe it herself. But the more she told her story, the more the children and nuns seemed to consume her thoughts. She knew she had to help them out somehow.

"The journey back to Poland changed me," she said. "I just wanted to do something for someone else."

So McNamara spent the next couple of months gathering cards, toys and blankets to send to the children for Christmas. She knows what it's like to have to share gifts with 30 other kids.

Her past few weekends have been consumed in preparation. She and her friends made blankets. They wrapped the presents. They put bells on the packages. And some of the friends even wrote personalized cards for each child and nun -- in Polish.

Nikki Kolupailo, McNamara's 21-year-old roommate, paced around a classroom on the St. Mary's campus last week making sure everything was in order. She was one of the first people to hear McNamara's story. And she has been by her side ever since.

"She seemed whole when she got back," Kolupailo said. "She's just happier. It's like there's a glow to her."

Kolupailo handed off a package to Bailey England, 21, another volunteer and friend of McNamara's.

"Ania has a drive that's so rare in someone her age," England said. "She inspires me every day."

The next step is sending the packages, which McNamara expects will cost more than $1,000.

"It takes a second to change a kid's life," she said. "And a few dollars out of pocket. But it is worth it. We should all be helping others."

McNamara is the first of her three sisters to go back to Poland since the adoption. They plan to all return together some day.

But for now, McNamara wants to concentrate on finishing her marketing and entrepreneur majors at St. Mary's, though, of course, she plans to stay in touch with the nuns and children.

The questions about her past that haunted her for years have mostly been answered.

"I feel that everything I really wanted to know, the orphanage answered it for me," she said. "And now I want to provide those kids with the comfort I have."

[Bonobo]

Better late than never.....

For some people, being a Pole is a very hard occupation....



Repatriation bill receives necessary 100,000 signatures
15.09.2010 13:08

After a much advertised last-minute campaign, the necessary 100,000 signatures have been collected for a citizens’ bill on repatriation.

The draft of the bill had been originally prepared by Maciej Płażyński, head of the expatriate Poles’ association Wspólnota Polska, who was killed in the Smolensk air disaster.

The collection of signatures was then continued by his son, Jakub Płażyński. In Poland, the general public can submit bills to parliament if enough signitures are collected in a petition.

The chief objective of the bill is to streamline and speed up repatriation of ethnic Poles, mostly from families transported to Siberia and other places in the Soviet Union during WW II.

Currently there are around 2,500 people on a waiting list for repatriation, mostly because of problems with accommodation in Poland.

New regulations would put most of the financial and organisational burden of repatriation on the Interior and Administration Ministry and not local authorities, as is currently the case.

Persons of Polish origin are described as having at least one parent or grandparent with Polish citizenship. The bill is now to be submitted for reading to Parliament.

[pjotr]

Polish Diaspora in the Netherlands

Poles living in the Netherlands are Polish wives of Dutch husbants, Polish students who live and study at Dutch universities and other forms of academic higher education. A third group is the group of Poles who are here for economical reasons. Polish workers in the constructions business, agricultural workers, truckdrivers (a large amount of the drivers of Dutch trucks on the highways of the Netherlands and Europe are in fact Polish drivers), entrepreneurs and businesspeople. The Polish diaspora in the Netherlands is not that large, but it is growing.

Polish immigration to the Netherlands has steadily increased since Poland was admitted to the E.U. The majority of them are guest workers through the European Union contract labor program, as more Poles obtain employment in this country's light industrial jobs. An estimated 50,000 Polish people live in the Netherlands, and the number could double in the next decade depending on economic conditions in Poland. The majority of Polish people in the Netherlands are in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht.

Limburg

In the South of the Netherlands there is province Limburg which welcomes Poles with open arms, because it is less populated than other provinces in this densly populated country, and because the Polish with their Roman-Catholic culture and religion fit in well in Limburg with it's Roman Catholic Southern Dutch heritage.


Karnawał w Limburgia (a Catholic Dutch tradition)

Links:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limburgia_%28Holandia%29
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%99zyk_limburski
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limburgia
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht

Pieter

[pjotr]

POLISH DIASPORA-polish communities worldwide ( 20 MILLION STRONG „POLONIA“ )

Polish worldwide population today is estimated at almost 60 million. It is an impossible task to compile an accurate count of all Poles in the Diaspora. The Polish Diaspora can be divided into two groups. The first group are emigrants and their offspring (next generations) who still see themselves as Poles abroad because of their Polish culture, traditions and mostly language as well. The emigration had political or economic reasons and began in the 19th century. The two world wars made even more people leave the country as well as the economic crisis in the 1980s. The second group are the Poles who live in the former Soviet Union on the territories which used to be Polish and taken away by the Soviets. Some of them were taken to prison or hard work in Siberia or Kazakhstan. 60% of all Polonians (Poles- Abroad ) live in North America. Other articles tell stories about Polish settlements and villages all over the world: “Adampol- Polonezkoy” is a Polish village existing since 1842 very close to Istanbul (Turkey). Once this beautiful landscape founded by Prince Czartoryski was the moral centre of the Polish resistance against the Germans, Austrians and Russians who have occupied our territory.


Prince Constantine Czartoryski (1773-1860) 1821

Now the Poles who still live there (6th generation) have built a popular holiday resort there and guests like the former Turkish president K. Ataturk or the former president of Poland A. Kwasniewski have visited it.


Prezydent Kwasniewski odwiedzil Adampol rok temu wraz ze swoja malzonka

“Styrcza” is the name of a Polish village in Moldova which is described here from the historical point of view.


Styrcza w Moldova

“Derenk” is an example for Polish settlement in Hungary. This village was removed after the last World War but the polish community still meets there every year.


Derenk, Hungary

Under „Australia“ I remember Mr Strzelecki who first climbed the highest mountain of Australia and named it „Kosciuszko Mountain“ after the Polish national hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a great rebel and revolutionary after Poland became divided, and a Pole who fought for the independence of the USA. A county, a city and an island are also called Kosciuszko in the USA. Another article deals with General Rayski, a Polish pilot who flew for the Turkish Air Force at the beginning of its existence. “Wschod Europy” gives some information on Poles in the former Soviet Union and “Zachod Europy” gives some information on Poles in Western Europe. The famous “Squadron 303”, a group of Polish pilots in the RAF (Royal Air Force) in the last World War who were very successful is also mentioned. Warsaw is known as the capital of Poland but who really knows that 27 villages and cities in the USA and one in Canada are also called so. There are also other Polish cities in North America, like Pulaski ( named after Gen. Pulaski, a Pole who lost his life for the independence of America) and Wilno a polish settlement in Canada, which settlers from the kashubian region called after the former Polish city of Wilno. The Polish district Brooklyn-Greenpoint in NYC I described as an observer. An important task I see is the history and situation of the two million Poles in Germany who are the third largest ethnic group in the multicultural German society after the Germans and Turks. Because most of them own a German passport they are not regarded as a minority in Germany. It is a bad situation because a very small minority of Germans in Poland is regarded as a minority. I hope that this situation will change soon- I mean that it will be changed .

It is known that the former Pope Paul John the 2nd was from Poland and that Kopernik (Copernicus), a Polish scientist/astronomer, in about 1513 wrote a short account of what has since become known as the Copernican theory, namely that the Sun (not the Earth) is at rest in the centre of the Universe. Also Zamenhof, the man who invented Esperanto was a native of Poland. Marshall Jozef Pilsudski was undoubtedly the dominant figure in Polish history in the first half of the twentieth Century. He was without doubt a major figure in European history and, at two points at least, in the November of 1918 and in the Summer of 1920, World history was profoundly influenced by his actions.
Poet Adam Mickiewicz, and all the Poles who received the Nobel Price like Reymont, Sienkiewicz, Milosz and Szymborska for literature, for example, are known in the world. In the year 2000 Mr Wajda a famous polish movie maker received an Oscar in Hollywood. Penderecki`s concerts were visited by thousands of people this year. I mentioned some Poles who are famous.


Andrzej Wajda

Now I will introduce you to prominent Poles abroad, maybe you will wonder maybe not: Roman Liebling Polanski - Polish motion-picture director, known for his psychological dramas and dark comedies and for his difficult personal life. Born in Paris, France, to Polish parents, Polanski moved to Kraków, Poland, at the age of three. When he was eight years of age, his parents were taken to German concentration camps, where his mother was killed. He was reunited with his father when he was 12 years old. At the age of 14 he became a stage actor, and he later studied at the Lódz Film School in Poland.


Roman Polanski

Ignacy Domeyko- geologist; discovered a few until then unknown minerals. He was the father of Chilean mining industry and a president of University of Santiago. Domeyko produced the first geological map of Chile. He was also the Rector of University of Santiago during 1867-1883. Installed the first weather stations and railway in Chile and Peru.

Zbigniew Brzezinski - Counselor-in-residence at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; trustee of the Trilateral Commission; national security adviser to President Carter and member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board; 1981 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; former faculty member at Columbia and Harvard universities; Ph.D., government, Harvard University.

Barbara Johnson Piasecka- Barbara Piasecka, a historian of art, and her late husband, Mr. J. Seward Johnson, Sr., one of the founders of Johnson & Johnson, gathered an extraordinary art collection renowned worldwide, comprising among others, 19th Century and Old Master paintings and 18th Century French Furniture. During its development, only individual pieces were put on public display. The first ever presentation of a significant portion of the Collection, under the name Opus Sacrum, was staged in Poland, Mrs. Johnson's native land, to coincide with its regaining its independence from communism.

Frederic Chopin - world`s best composer ever. Chopin created or developed a number of new forms of piano music, vehicles for his own poetic use of the instrument, with its exploration of nuance, its original harmonies and its discreet but often considerable technical demands. He used the popular form of the Waltz in a score of such compositions, of which the so-called Minute Waltz is probably the best known of many of almost equal familiarity. The Polish dance, the Polonaise, elevated from village to ball-room, provided the basis of another characteristic form, in sixteen such works, written between 1817, when Chopin was seven, and 1846.

Marie Sklodowska Curie - Maria (Marie Fr.) Sklodowska-Curie (born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867) was one of the first woman scientists to win worldwide fame, and indeed, one of the great scientists of this century. She had degrees in mathematics and physics. Winner of two Nobel Prizes, for Physics in 1903 and for Chemistry in 1911, she performed pioneering studies with radium and polonium and contributed profoundly to the understanding of radioactivity.
Basia- famous singer- hits with Matt Bianco (Half a Minute), and solo ("Promises", "Cruising for Bruising", "Drunk on Love").

Michael Pieslak

[tufta]

Pieter, thanks for interesting reading. Polonia is indeed very differentiated phenomenon and it has great merit in preserving Polishness while it was inhibited in subdud Poland. However we should know that presently Poles in Poland tend to see those who left Poland in two black and white, simplified, cathegories. Those who had to leave and those who hadn't...

[pjotr]

Sept 16, 2010 23:46:46 GMT 1 tufta said:

Pieter, thanks for interesting reading. Polonia is indeed very differentiated phenomenon and it has great merit in preserving Polishness while it was inhibited in subdud Poland. However we should know that presently Poles in Poland tend to see those who left Poland in two black and white, simplified, cathegories. Those who had to leave and those who hadn't...

I also heared rumors about the bad role German soldiers of the Wehrmacht and SS with Polish names played in the second world war in Poland. In the words of the Pole Wojtek from Warsaw, the Germans with Polish names often were the cruelest and worst kind of Germans. It was like if they had to prove themselves to be more 'German than German' or maybe they were just Germans with Polish names, but not connected to Poland? Where they those Poles who did not have to leave Poland in the 19th and early 20th century?

Pieter

[pjotr]

The perception of Polish immigrants in the Netherlands

On the 1st of May 2004 ten countries joined the European Union, among them Poland. Many people saw in this development a chance for a new and better life, since not only the country borders opened, but also a new and better labor market. This particularly refers to post-communist countries, such as Poland, where unemployment was relatively high, 9-20% (Money, 2009) in the last 10 years, so many people decided to migrate in a search for a new, better paid job. One of the popular destinations was and still is the Netherlands.
The Netherlands has been characterized by Waldrauch and Hofinger (1997) as one of the most immigrants welcoming countries. For years the traditional immigrant groups in the Netherlands were Turks, Surinamese, Moroccans and Antilleans. The new immigrant groups, such as the Polish one, bring new relationships between allochtons and autochtons. These relations are highly dependent on the immigrants’ ability for acculturation.
Much research has already been done on the acculturation of the traditional immigrant groups in the Netherlands, but very little on the new immigration groups including the Polish one. Acculturation refers to all the changes that a person experiences when he or she comes in contact with another culture and participates in the process that his ethnic group is experiencing (Graves, 1967). Summarizing: it refers to how immigrants deal, psychologically, with the combination of the two cultures (the original and the new one) they experience. According to Berry (1980) acculturation is based on two dimensions: (i) the degree to which immigrants find it important to have contacts and relationships with the majority group (autochthons) and (ii) the degree to which immigrants’ value and desire the maintenance of their cultural features. Based on these findings Berry et al. (1992) distinguish four different strategies of acculturation: (i) assimilation: it is not important to the minority to maintain their culture and identity, but important to join the dominant society; (ii) integration: it is important to the minority to have contacts with the dominant society, but they wish to maintain their ethic identity; (iii) separation: it is not important to the minority to have contacts with the dominant society, they just wish to maintain their ethnic identity; (iv) marginalization: the minority loses contact with their own culture and the dominant society (for example by exclusion). It seems that the Dutch prefer when immigrants assimilate or integrate in the Netherlands (Oudenhoven et al., 1998), with a clear preference for assimilation (Oudenhoven and Eissen, 1998; Verkuyten and Thijs, 2002). This preference for assimilation could be explained with the similarity-attraction hypothesis (Byrne, 1969), which states that people feel more attracted to similar than to dissimilar others. This gives them the confirmation that their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours are right.
The Polish culture is not very different from the Dutch. There are some differences, but not a big gulf between the two cultures. Boom et al. (2008) explain that the reason for this is the religion that the two countries share (Christianity) and their common history. One therefore would expect that integration (or even assimilation) would follow smoothly. In many cases however, this process is not smooth due to the specific profile of the Polish immigrant: The Polish immigrants who come to the Netherlands are young, with secondary or higher education. These are people who are usually employed in Poland, but come to the Netherlands and are motivated to work in other occupations (often under-qualified) and even for a minimum wage, which is still higher that their salary in Poland (Ecorys, 2006; Duszczyk & Wisniewski, 2007). Many of the Polish immigrants come to the Netherlands temporarily and do not make any effort to learn the Dutch language and culture or to make contacts with the Dutch society.
It is important to notice that the above summary about Polish immigration in the Netherlands is based on very little scientific information available on this topic. There are only a few articles about Polish migration, most of them with a statistical focus, whereas those on the acculturation of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands and on how the Dutch citizens perceive the Polish immigrants are very scarce. This paper contributes to the improvement of this knowledge by presenting a study on the perception of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands formulated as the main research objective of this study. This research objective in turn, addresses three research questions:
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1. What perception do the Dutch citizens have about the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands (in this study referred to as the image);
2. What perception do the Polish immigrants have about the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands? (in this study referred to as the identity);
3. What perception do the Polish immigrants have of their image among the Dutch citizens? (in this study referred to as the perception of the image).

2. Formation of image

Bromley (2000) states, that people form an image by processing information at three levels: (i) the primary level, based on personal experience, (ii) the secondary level, based on experience of others and (iii) the tertiary level, based on experience from the media. The processing of information on the primary level, i.e. based on the direct, personal experience, has the largest influence on the image. However, the possibilities of the direct exchange of personal experiences between Polish and Dutch are limited. In the Netherlands there are many Dutch citizens who have never been in contact with Polish immigrants and consequently know nothing about them from personal experience. This is largely because many Polish, who come to work to the Netherlands, do not try to get in contact with the Dutch, but rather associate with other Polish immigrants, mainly at work. This is why despite their indirect nature, the secondary and tertiary level are also highly important; the secondary level because of the social character of the Dutch and their many contacts, and the tertiary level because of widest access. For many Dutch the media represent the only source of information about the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands.
The Polish immigrants in the Netherlands receive much and often negative attention in the Dutch media. The following headlines are just a few examples: “Are the Polish immigrants a curse or a blessing?” (NRC, 2007); “No extra money against the nuisance of the Polish, but a plan of action” (Nu.nl, 2007); “Over 1000 Polish drivers arrested for drunkenness” (De Telegraaf, 2009); “Polish rob a shop” (Algemeen Dagblad, 2007); etc.
The important issue is to what extent such messages influence the creation of the negative image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands. Mass media may be very powerful and have a lot of influence on human minds, as the results of several studies show. Wanta et al. (2004) describe the impact that media have on the public perception in the U.S. of foreign nations in general. When a nation received more coverage of the media, the respondents more likely thought that the nation was vitally important to their country’s interests. If the coverage was negative the respondents where more likely to think negative about that nation. The positive media coverage had no influence. Weimann (1984) found
6
similar results, which confirm that media do have influence on the image that people form about a country.
Following the published information about the perception of Polish immigrants in the Netherlands, and the three research questions stated above, the three respective hypothesis can be defined: 1) the image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands is negative among the Dutch citizens; 2) the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands perceive their identity as more positive than their image among the Dutch citizens 3) the perception of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands of their image, is more positive than their image among the Dutch citizens.

3. Projective techniques

In this research the image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands was measured by using projective techniques. A projective technique is an instrument that is sensitive to the unconscious aspects of human behaviour. It permits and encourages a variation of the responses of the person and is highly multidimensional. It also stimulates unusually rich and excessive responses with a minimum awareness of the purpose of the research (Lindzey, 1961). Although there are many different, qualitative and quantitative, techniques for such a measurement (van Riel, 1997; Bouwman, 1998), projective methods have a few advantages which make the use of them in this research highly suitable. The most important reason is the fact that they permit working with pictures rather than with words, which prevents potential miscommunication by translation. Yet, it is important that they take into account cultural and interpretation differences. Projective methods are highly suitable when doing research on the norms, values, personalities and other aspects related to an individual, that are difficult to examine other way (Webb, 1992). They give the respondents the opportunity to answer intuitively, without the worry that they would have to explain their feelings (Catterall and Ibbotson, 2000). This can result in more honest answers and in unconscious expression of emotion. Projective techniques allow for expressing feelings, without the need to search for words (Hofstede et al., 2007; Kay, 2001). They are creative, relatively unusual and unknown to many people, which results in unbiased participation in a research (Catterall and Ibbotson, 2000; Gordon & Langmaid, 1998). They are also useful for both qualitative and quantitative research (Levy, 1994)
These advantages are highly important for this research. People often find it difficult to criticize and judge others. In this case, the pictures will help them to present their opinion, without the use of words. Of the known projective techniques, the one applying pictures of animals as a research instrument was selected to test the hypotheses and fulfil the objective of this study. Such techniques have already been successfully used before. Hussey and Duncombe (1999) developed an instrument, based on pictures of animals and cars, which
7
helped them to assess and to compare food. Oswick and Montgomery (1999) asked the respondents to compare business companies to pictures of animals and to pictures of car parts. In both cases the researchers were enthusiastic about the use and possibilities of the projective techniques, and the validity of their research method. Thanks to these features it is also proposed in this paper to use the metaphor-based questionnaire, based on pictures of animals. These pictures will be combined with the personality theory of Cattell (Cattell, 1973), because of its wide range of personality factors. Most personality theories are based on 5 or even less dimensions (Sanderman et al., 1995) i.e. Eysencks personality theory (Eysenck, 1976) or the Big Five (Digman, 1989; Ewen, 1998). The personality theory of Cattell is based on 16 personality factors ‘the sixteen Personality Factor Inventory’, or ‘16 PF’ (Ewen, 1998). These factors are presented in terms of bipolar adjectives, which results in 32 personality factors. This gives space for a wide scale of factors on which the main questionnaire will be based.
To address the main objective of this study, the pictures of animals will be used in combination with the 32 (2x16) factors of Cattell.

4. Method

For the purpose of this research a main questionnaire with the use of animal pictures had to be designed. However, before that the validation of the animal pictures was necessary. The section below gives a short description of the process of validating the pictures and designing the main questionnaire.

4.1. Development of a photoset

Once it was decided that the study would be based on pictures of animals, it was crucial to stipulate, which personality qualities the animals on the pictures represented. To this end 8 persons were invited, 4 female and 4 male two of whom were Polish and six Dutch. Their average age was 33.6 years, raging from 25 to 60. The focus group was introduced by the researcher to the 32 (2x16) personality factors of Cattell (Ewen, 1998), such as bright-dull, dominant-modest, liberal-conservative etc. and was asked to name the animals that came up in their minds, hearing the specific personality factor. This resulted in a list of 50 different animals.
To find out which of the 50 animals represented the personality factor among the Dutch and among the Polish population, the pictures were incorporated in a questionnaire together with the Catell’s personality factors. The respondents were asked to attach one, two or three personality factors to each of the animals on the pictures and such personal qualities
8
were ranked. The first named personality factor was the most suitable one and weighed 3 points, the second 2 points and the third 1 point. Besides, there was also room in the questionnaire for the addition of other personality qualities to the animals.
53 respondents took part in this test of which 28 were females and 25 males. The average age was 31 years, ranging from 17 to 61. 60% of the respondents were Dutch and 40% were Polish.
Because of the possibility of giving more than one answer, some pictures scored high on two or 3 personality factors. Therefore another questionnaire was designed. In the new questionnaire, instead of 50 animals, only 24 animals were used, those with the highest scores. Also the personality factors of the animals were adjusted i.e. some of them that had been most frequently chosen were maintained, the least frequently used rejected and some new added. The Cattell’s personality factors together with new additions are further referred as personality characteristics. In the new set up, every animal got 4 or 5 characteristics of which the respondents had to choose just one (multiple-choice questionnaire). Also in that questionnaire, there was room for additional answers, to test if any other essential answer was not missing.
57 persons took part in the second questionnaire, 30 females and 27 males. The average age was 33 years old, with minimum of 17 and maximum of 70. 64 % of the respondents were Dutch and 36 % Polish.
The animals that scored on a particular characteristic in more than 80% of the cases were chosen for the main research questionnaire. The 15 chosen animals are described in Table 1 and presented in the appendix.
Table 1
The characteristics associated with the animals
Animal Characteristics
Dog loyal, faithful, devoted* Squirrel shy, timid Bee diligent, hard working* Fox sly, cunning, sneaky* Butterfly happy-go-lucky, enthusiastic Dolphin bright, intelligent
Monkey astute, socially aware Slug sober, taciturn, serious Pig untidy, dirty, messy Seal tender-minded, sensitive, clinging
9
T ortoise Parrot Lion Sloth Peacock
relaxed, tranquil, composed noisy, loud, busy* dominant, assertive, competitive lazy, languid, work-shy*
proud, haughty*
Note: * the extra characteristics that were added by the respondents

4.2. Main questionnaire

The main questionnaire consisted of an introduction and two main parts, picture assessment and verbal assessment. In the introduction, a number of socio-demographic questions were asked. In the picture assessment, the 15 chosen pictures of the animals were combined with a 7-point Likert scale (Likert, 1932). The respondents could rank how well the pictures apply to the Polish community in the Netherlands. The picture assessment ended with an open question, where the participants were asked to choose an animal that, in their opinion, matched the best with the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands and to explain their choice. In the verbal assessment, the personality characteristics were used, but with words instead of animal pictures. The respondents had to rank the characteristics that were presented in pairs (bipolar), for example “lazy-diligent”. Again the 7 point Likert’s scale was used. If the respondents assessed the Polish immigrants with 1, it meant they found them very lazy. If the respondents assessed the Polish immigrants with 7, it meant they found them very diligent. The 4 was used when a respondent did not have any focused opinion. The main objective of the verbal assessment in the questionnaire was to validate the picture assessment, where a new method was used.

4.3. Sample

340 people participated in the main questionnaire research, 40.3% males and 59.7% females. The youngest respondent was 13 and the oldest 75 years old (average 30.2). Three groups were compared with each other: Group 1 consisted of 116 Dutch assessing the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands (image); 50.4 % were males and 49.6% females. 96.6% had a Dutch nationality, 0.9% Polish and Dutch nationality and 2.6% other nationality; the average age was 33.4 years, raged from 13 to 75; the participants were from different geographical regions of the Netherlands. Group 2 consisted of 106 Polish immigrants in the Netherlands assessing themselves (identity); 58.5% were females and 41.5% males; 96.2% had a Polish nationality, 0,9% only Dutch nationality (born in Polish families) and 2,8% Polish and Dutch nationality; the average age was 28.9 years, raged from 16 to 55 years old; the
10
participants were from different regions of the Netherlands. Group 3 consisted of 118 Polish immigrants in the Netherlands assessing Dutch perception of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands (perception of the image); 29.7% were females and 70.3% males; 94.9% had a Polish nationality, 1.7% only Dutch nationality (born in Polish families), 1.7% Polish and Dutch nationality, and 1.7% other nationality; the average age was 28.1 years, raged from 13 to 50; the participants were from different regions of the Netherlands. The average age of the Polish participants was much lower than the average age of the Dutch. This is because the majority of the Polish respondents were young laborers, who left Poland in search for simple, but often hard work.

4.4. Procedure

The main questionnaire has been designed in two languages, Polish and Dutch, in two formats, in hardcopy and digital. To reach the participants, two ways of recruiting were used. For the Dutch, the questionnaires were distributed in different cities in the Netherlands personally by the researcher and by e-mail. To recruit the Polish people in the Netherlands the links to the questionnaires were posted on several websites of the Polish community in the Netherlands and also 1000 e-mails were sent to randomly selected members of the Polish web portal “Nasza-Klasa”, subscribing 35.000 Polish in the Netherlands. All the participants were given the opportunity to receive the results of this research. Out of the 340 questionnaire respondents, 253 (74.4%) requested for the results of this study.
5. Results
To find out what image the Polish immigrants have in the Netherlands, the scores of the three groups were analyzed and compared using the One-way ANOVA Test. The results of the picture assessment of the questionnaire are presented in Table 2. It shows the average scores of every group per animal and the differences between the groups in the scores.
Table 2
The Mean Scores of the Picture Assessment at the Scale 1 to 7
Animal
Dog (loyal, faithful, devoted) Squirrel (shy, timid) Bee (diligent, hard working)

Fox (sly, cunning, sneaky) Butterfly (happy-go-lucky, cheerful) Dolphin (bright, intelligent) Monkey (astute, socially aware) Slug (sober, taciturn, serious) Pig (untidy, dirty, messy) Seal (tender-minded, sensitive, clinging) Tortoise (relaxed, tranquil, composed) Parrot (noisy, loud, busily) Lion (dominant, assertive, competitive) Sloth (lazy, languid, work-shy) Peacock (proud, haughty)

The most outstanding results of the picture assessment are: (i) a dog, representing loyalty, got in each of the three groups an average score a bit lower than a 4. However, the difference between the perception of Polish immigrants (group 2 and 3) and the Dutch (group 1) was significant. The Dutch rated Polish immigrants higher on loyalty, than the Polish immigrants did themselves and than they expect the Dutch did; (ii) a bee, representing diligence, got in each of the three groups a high score, around 5, with no significant difference between the groups; (iii) a fox, representing sneakiness, got from each of the three groups a significant different average score; the Dutch rated the Polish immigrants on this characteristic, with 3.91; Polish immigrants rated themselves with 5.53; and Polish immigrants expected the Dutch to rate them with a 4.81. The Polish find themselves sneakier, than the Dutch in fact do and they expect the Dutch to rate them higher on the characteristic sneakiness, than the Dutch actually do; (iv) a pig, representing messiness, got from the Dutch (group 1) an average score lower than a 4, and from both groups of Polish immigrants (group 2 and 3) an average scores higher than four. These differences are significant; (v) a parrot, representing noisiness, got from the Dutch an average score a bit higher than 3, and from both groups of Polish immigrants, average scores higher than 4. These differences are significant; (vi) a peacock, representing pride, got from the Dutch an average score a bit higher than 3, and from both groups of Polish immigrants, average scores higher than 4. These differences are significant.
The picture assessment of the questionnaire ended with an open question, in which the participants were asked to choose an animal that in their opinion matched the best with the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands and explained their choice. The results showed that the
12
first group, the Dutch, chose most frequently the following animals: a bee, because they think of the Polish immigrants as diligent people, who come to the Netherlands for hard work; a fox, because the Polish immigrants are sly and have to act smart to survive in a foreign country; a dog, because they are loyal and friendly and a squirrel, because they are shy and hoard up their savings.
The results of the second group, the Polish immigrants describing their identity and the third group, the Polish immigrants assessing their image, were the same. The participants of those groups chose most frequently the following animals: a fox, because they find the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands sneaky, sometimes vicious and able to do anything just to achieve the goal; a bee, because they think of the Polish immigrants as diligent people, who come to the Netherlands for hard work; a pig because they find them messy, especially after having a few drinks and a parrot because they claim the Polish immigrants to be noisy and haughty, especially after drinks.
The results of the verbal assessment of the questionnaire are presented in Table 3. It shows the average scores of every group per animal and the differences between the groups in the scores.
Table 3
The Means Scores of the Verbal Assessment at the Scale 1 to 7
Characteristics
Timid – elated Cheerful – sober Bright – dull Lazy – diligent Soft – hard Dominant – modest Warmhearted - reserved Insecure – secure Liberal – conservative Relaxed – frustrated Messy – tidy
Loyal - hypocritical

The most outstanding results of the verbal assessment are: (i) timid/elated, got significant lower score from the Dutch, than from the two groups of Polish immigrants (higher than four). This means that the Dutch find Polish immigrants in the Netherlands more timid than Polish immigrants find themselves and that the perception of the Dutch concerning the timidity of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands lower is than the Polish expect them to be; (ii) lazy/diligent, got in each of the three groups a high score, higher than 5, with no significant difference between the groups; (iii) relaxed/frustrated, got from each of the three groups a significant different average score: the Dutch rated the Polish immigrants on this characteristic, with 3.62, Polish immigrants rated themselves with 4.89 and Polish immigrants expected the Dutch to rate them with a 5.25. The Dutch find the Polish immigrants significantly less frustrated than the Polish find themselves and expect the Dutch to do; (iv) messy/tidy, got from the Dutch significantly lower average score (less messy) than from the Polish immigrants. Polish immigrants in the Netherlands find themselves and expect the Dutch to think of them as more messy, than the Dutch actually do; (v) loyal/hypocritical, got from each of the three groups a significantly different average score; the Dutch rated the Polish immigrants on this characteristic, with an average of 3.45; Polish immigrants rated themselves with an average of 5.24; and Polish immigrants expected the Dutch to rate them with an average of 4.51. The Polish find themselves more hypocrite, than the Dutch in fact do and they expect the Dutch to rate them lower on the characteristic loyalty, than the Dutch actually do.
Comparing the animal assessment with the verbal assessment, it can be summarized that the results of these parts largely overlap. Most of the results of verbal assessment (Table 3) are consistent with the results of the animal assessment (Table 2) with only small differences. For example characteristic “timid” (squirrel), showed a significant difference between group 1, 2 and 3 (a and b) in the verbal assessment of the questionnaire, and not in the picture assessment. In the open question of the picture assessment, the Dutch participants (group 1), in contrast to Polish, mentioned the squirrel frequently as a positive image expression. Also the results of tortoise and of the slug in the picture assessment deviated from the results in the verbal assessment.

6. Discussion

The main aim of this study was to investigate the perception of Polish immigrants in the Netherlands so the questionnaire tests prepared and carried out over Dutch and Polish respondents were designed to fulfil that objective. Following the first hypothesis, the expectation was that, because of the often bad publicity and negative comments in the media about Polish immigrants, their image in the Netherlands would be negative. Following the second and third hypothesis, the expectation was that the identity of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands and their perception of their image would be more positive than their image. The results of the questionnaire were very surprising. The image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands appeared not to be negative, contrary to the Polish identity which was definitely more negative than their image. Also the perception of the image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands was more negative than their image.
Dutch citizens see Polish in the Netherlands as very hard workers, who come to the Netherlands to earn and save some money to support their family in Poland. They also think that Polish immigrants have to be sneaky and act smart to survive in a foreign country such as the Netherlands and they are loyal and friendly, but also timid and reserved. Polish immigrants in the Netherlands perceive themselves as hard workers, but they think of themselves as very sneaky, frustrated and hypocrite, able to do anything just to achieve their goal. Besides, they confess to be noisy and messy, especially after having too many drinks. Despite of that, they are very proud to be Polish, even up to being arrogant. Interesting is that their perception of their image in the Netherlands is similarly negative as their identity. This suggests that they expect the Dutch to see them the same negative way as they see themselves.
The results of both parts of the questionnaire, the picture and the verbal assessment rejected the three stated hypothesis proving the exact opposite. The question is: how is it possible that the identity of the Polish in the Netherlands and the perception of their image are so negative?
Merton’s (1948) theory on the self-fulfilling prophecy might be an explanation to the results of this research. This theory states, that when a perceiver inaccurately beliefs that an object initiates a certain behaviour, it eventually causes that object to show that expected behaviour, thereby causing the original false belief to come true. When applying this theory to the results of the present study, the following can be stated: because the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands get a lot of negative attention in the media, they assume that their image in the Netherlands is negative. This seems to be the reason why the perception of the image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands is also negative. This initiates that they eventually start behaving similarly to their image. The last expectation according to the theory of Merton is that the Dutch citizens actually will get a negative image of the Polish. This is likely still to happen, when the Dutch will get in contact with the Polish more often.
The method of this study in which the pictures of the animals were assessed by the scale of Likert was confirmed to be valid. The verbal assessment of the questionnaire, designed for validation purpose, showed almost the same results as the picture assessment where photos were used. There were only three animals that did not correspond well in the two assessments. Characteristic “timid” (squirrel), showed a significant difference between group 1, 2 and 3 (a and b) in the verbal assessment of the questionnaire, and not in the picture assessment. However, in the open question of the picture assessment, the Dutch participants (group 1), in contrast to Polish, mentioned the squirrel frequently as a positive image expression. Also the results of tortoise and of the slug in the picture assessment deviated from the results in the verbal assessment. This can be explained by the extra addition of behaviour characteristics to the animals by the participants. For instance, a squirrel is a collector, resembling that Polish immigrants come to the Netherlands to save up some money, before they go back to Poland. The slug and the tortoise remind the participants of something slow, as opposed to the hard workers.
Another remarkable issue is the interpretation of the characteristic of a fox. All the three interviewed groups interpreted this animal as a characteristic “sneaky”, which was confirmed in the open question of the picture assessment, but group 1, i.e. the Dutch participants, saw this sneakiness in the Polish immigrants as something unavoidable and necessary to survive in a foreign country, while Polish participant saw the sneakiness as a bad personal quality of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands. This can be clarified by the double meaning of the word “sneaky”, namely “clever” but also “sly”.
The new method, used in this study, where the pictures of animals were combined with Likert’s scale, was successful. The expectation with many characteristics was that Dutch and Polish respondents would rank the characteristics very different from each other, even opposite. This was not the case in this study. This might change in a next research step (recommended below), when interviews will be done accounting for additional classification constraints such as: the aim of stay in the Netherlands, the social status, education, age and gender. Especially, the classification in the aim of stay of the Polish immigrants may be of a great value, since many Polish remarked in the comments that there are two groups of Polish immigrants in the Netherlands; first group are the Polish immigrants who come to the Netherlands temporarily, just to earn and save some money and than go back to the Netherlands. The second group are the Polish immigrants who come to the Netherlands in search of a new and better life. These immigrants plan to stay in the Netherlands longer and often invest in learning Dutch language and culture. The difference in perception on Polish immigrants in The Netherlands between these two groups can be significant.

The present study was a first step in the research on the perception of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands. It provided surprising conclusions rejecting earlier stated hypothesis but also clearly defined avenue for the further research in this exciting direction.

7. Conclusion and recommendations

The image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands was neutral, and not negative, which contradicted the first hypothesis; the Dutch citizens think that the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands are hard workers, who sometimes have to be sneaky and act smart to survive in a foreign country, however they are loyal and friendly people, but often shy and reserved.
The identity of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands was negative and certainly more negative than their image, which contradicted the second hypothesis; the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands percept themselves as hard workers, however sneaky, frustrated and hypocrite, able to do anything just to achieve their goal; besides they are noisy and messy, especially after having too many drinks but very proud of being Polish up to being arrogant sometimes.
The Polish perception of the image of the Polish immigrants in the Netherlands was negative and certainly more negative than real image which contradicted the third hypothesis; they expect that the Dutch perceive that they work hard; they think that the Dutch find them sneaky, frustrated, hypocritical, very messy and noisy but hard workers, proud and rather not timid; this result was close to the result of identity investigation.
In order to better understand why Dutch percept Polish immigrants in the Netherlands better than Polish themselves and why the identity of the Polish immigrants is negative it is recommended to carry similar projective tests as proposed in this study classifying the results with respect to: the length of stay in the Netherlands, the social status, education, age and gender.
The method applying pictures in combination with the scale of Likert is highly recommended for similar studies as proposed here.

[tufta]

Pieter, I have never heard of Poles serving in SS. In Wehrmacht there were many Poles, especially from those regions of Poland which Germans treated as 'their land'. They were conscripted against their will. Especially dramatic situations happened in Śląsk - Silesia, a region in South-Western Poland. There were sometimes situations there when on e brother served in German army and the other in Polish army.
But these are marginal and almost forgotten stories nowadays.

[tufta]

Pieter, very interesting and thanks for posting. Two remarks that I have ad hoc

Sept 17, 2010 0:30:48 GMT 1 pjotr said:

Many of the Polish immigrants come to the Netherlands temporarily and do not make any effort to learn the Dutch language and culture or to make contacts with the Dutch society

[/b].

This is the main failure of this paper. It does not diiferentiate between immigrants and migrants. The Poles treat the EU, it's ideals, and LAWS in a serious way. They feel self-assured abroad while being there for higher salaries. They know that Poland has done her part of the deal in 100%, opening her markets for Dutch investments (including the banking and insurance sector) in the pre-accesion time. Part of Dutch prosperity was and is earned in Poland. Now the time has come that part of Polish prosperity is built in the Netherlands. Part of that process is the citizens of EU from Poland competing with the Dutch workforce not just in Poland, where we manufactrure cheaper (and in some departments better) but in the Netherlands as well. Those people don't need to assimilate with the Dutch culture specifically.

“Are the Polish immigrants a curse or a blessing?” (NRC, 2007); “No extra money against the nuisance of the Polish, but a plan of action” (Nu.nl, 2007); “Over 1000 Polish drivers arrested for drunkenness” (De Telegraaf, 2009); “Polish rob a shop” (Algemeen Dagblad, 2007); etc.

So, would you want to assimilate into a society writing and reading such titles?
This is yet another example of the Western European hypocrisy inside EU. They want to take only those part of EU ideals and laws which are good for their countries specifically. But the situation when there are a lot of Poles working in regions of EU other then their homeland is not eternal. Poles will leave in some 5 to 10 years.

[pjotr]

Sept 17, 2010 7:06:39 GMT 1 tufta said:

Pieter, I have never heard of Poles serving in SS. In Wehrmacht there were many Poles, especially from those regions of Poland which Germans treated as 'their land'. They were conscripted against their will. Especially dramatic situations happened in Śląsk - Silesia, a region in South-Western Poland. There were sometimes situations there when on e brother served in German army and the other in Polish army.
But these are marginal and almost forgotten stories nowadays.

Tufta,

You are right that Poland was one of the few nations, maybe the only nation with no significant collaboration with the Nazi's. I did not mean Poles, but Germans with Polish roots. So German speaking Germans with Polish names due to a partly Polish heritage. These were often offspring of Poles who moved to Germany in the 19th century. These Germans with Polish names often didn't even speak Polish. You can see them as Poles with German names, who do not speak German or for who German is a second language. I heard this story from a Polish Pole from Warsaw, Poland. It is not my story, it is a story which comes from Poland. From Bunjo, also known as Wojtek from the Jaga Polish Culture Forum. And I know he is a reliable Polish intellectual.

I know this is a controversial subject, but I wanted to mentione it. It has something to do with psychology of human beings, the mindset of people with mixed origin. In the sense that a lot of these Germans with Polish names, had half of their blood or three quarter to be non-Polish probably, due to mixing with Germans.
The German nazi's considered these Germans with Polish names as Germans, not as Poles. These people probably also considered themselves as full Germans.

Pieter

[tufta]

Pieter, there is nothing controversial here or maybe it is I who can't see the controversy or I didn't catch what you mean. Many Germans have Polish names and Polish origin. Today some 30 % Germans have Slavic roots. Those people in SS or wherever in the Nazi death machine were German, and as you write consider themselves German. If there were some in SS, what is controversial here? (besides the fact that the sole existance of SS is highly controversial event ....).

Or maybe you mean the guys from mixed families who had some loyalty to Poland and chosen to serve the death machine and wanted to prove they have no loyalty to Poland. I am sure such individuals existed but by no means they are anything but exceptions, margin. We call them traitors, btw....

[pjotr]

Sept 17, 2010 7:27:11 GMT 1 tufta said:

Pieter, very interesting and thanks for posting. Two remarks that I have ad hoc

Sept 17, 2010 0:30:48 GMT 1 pjotr said:

Many of the Polish immigrants come to the Netherlands temporarily and do not make any effort to learn the Dutch language and culture or to make contacts with the Dutch society.

This is the main failure of this paper. It does not differentiate between immigrants and migrants. The Poles treat the EU, it's ideals, and LAWS in a serious way. They feel self-assured abroad while being there for higher salaries. They know that Poland has done her part of the deal in 100%, opening her markets for Dutch investments (including the banking and insurance sector) in the pre-accesion time. Part of Dutch prosperity was and is earned in Poland. Now the time has come that part of Polish prosperity is built in the Netherlands. Part of that process is the citizens of EU from Poland competing with the Dutch workforce not just in Poland, where we manufactrure cheaper (and in some departments better) but in the Netherlands as well. Those people don't need to assimilate with the Dutch culture specifically.

Tufta,

I agree with you ofcourse. Mind you that this paper was a thesis of a Dutch student. Not a trained professional, but a Dutch student, who looks from a Dutch statistics and theoretical point of view. I found it on the internet as an interesting example how part of the Dutch look at Poles in our country from a political, public servant, bureaucratic, social and human point of view.
I don't know the background of this student, nor his knowledge about Poland, Poles and the Polish diaspora in the Netherlands.
You could describe my position as somewhere inbetween his view and your view. I tend to be more positive towards the Poles in the Netherlands, from whom in my view the majority are migrants, who will turn back to Poland. Because Modern today Poland in the near future is better fro them and their children then the Netherlands with it's complicated multi-cultural society and the problems which are related to that.

Don't get me wrong, you have some exellent Polish immigrants in the Netherlands who integrate quite well, and can maintain a Polish culture, while speaking Dutch in the same time in their new environment. You have a lot of mixed Dutch-Polish couples, Polish families who live in the Netherlands and Polish individuals who chose the Netherlands as their nation, due to their profession, or interest in a Dutch city or region.

“Are the Polish immigrants a curse or a blessing?” (NRC, 2007); “No extra money against the nuisance of the Polish, but a plan of action” (Nu.nl, 2007); “Over 1000 Polish drivers arrested for drunkenness” (De Telegraaf, 2009); “Polish rob a shop” (Algemeen Dagblad, 2007); etc.

So, would you want to assimilate into a society writing and reading such titles?
This is yet another example of the Western European hypocrisy inside EU. They want to take only those part of EU ideals and laws which are good for their countries specifically. But the situation when there are a lot of Poles working in regions of EU other then their homeland is not eternal. Poles will leave in some 5 to 10 years. [/quote]

You are absolutely right and this is a sort of xenophobia or discrimination I witnessed during my life in the Netherlands.
It is sad but true, and it irritated me, as being a half Pole. And if I am in the position to react against it I will do it.

[tufta]

Sept 17, 2010 8:41:26 GMT 1 pjotr said:

You could describe my position as somewhere inbetween his view and your view.

Pieter, there is no my position regarding the treatment of Polish immigrants and migrants (expats) by the Dutch people. And I think the student did a great job researching the problem. He is not negative about Poles, he presents the facts 'how they are seen' and 'how they see themselves'. His presentation revealed what we already in a way know about Western European societies. They are deeply and profoundly hipocritical in certain aspects. I don't mean by that we the Poles are angels of being fair and just. We are simply talking about something different. The only downfall which I notice in the paper is, as I said, lack of differentiation between Polish immigrants into Netherlands, and the Polish migrant workers who do not have an intention to stay for life there, and which just use their basic right to travel for work freely in the EU borders. But this mistake of the author is very telling - perhaps the Dutch society as a whole does not differentiate those groups of people.

[tufta]

Sept 17, 2010 8:41:26 GMT 1 pjotr said:

Don't get me wrong, you have some exellent Polish immigrants in the Netherlands who integrate quite well, and can maintain a Polish culture, while speaking Dutch in the same time in their new environment. You have a lot of mixed Dutch-Polish couples, Polish families who live in the Netherlands and Polish individuals who chose the Netherlands as their nation, due to their profession, or interest in a Dutch city or region.

Exactly, Pieter! Especially that Poles feel great sympathy for the Dutch people, their dilligence, ability to stay independent nation in front of much greater neighbours, also for their past part in making Poland much more sophisticate country in terms of agri-Culture. Would that group have been included in the paper we discuss the results would be more into the direction 'they are hardly distiguishable'.

[pjotr]

Sept 17, 2010 16:23:31 GMT 1 tufta said:

Sept 17, 2010 8:41:26 GMT 1 pjotr said:

Don't get me wrong, you have some exellent Polish immigrants in the Netherlands who integrate quite well, and can maintain a Polish culture, while speaking Dutch in the same time in their new environment. You have a lot of mixed Dutch-Polish couples, Polish families who live in the Netherlands and Polish individuals who chose the Netherlands as their nation, due to their profession, or interest in a Dutch city or region.

Exactly, Pieter! Especially that Poles feel great sympathy for the Dutch people, their dilligence, ability to stay independent nation in front of much greater neighbours, also for their past part in making Poland much more sophisticate country in terms of agri-Culture. Would that group have been included in the paper we discuss the results would be more into the direction 'they are hardly distiguishable'.

Tufta,

I wish the feeling was mutual. I know Poland due to my mixed origin, but many Dutch people know very little about Poland. That is partly due to the Iron curtain which seperated Western-Europe and Central-Europe for so long, but also due to our education system which teaches Dutch history and it's relationship with direct neighbours, and less about countries and people behind our Eastern neighbours Eastern borders. Ofcourse pupils learn that the second world war started in Poland. But how many of them will remember this later on? The Communist years are behind us and without dissidents, Solidarnosc and the Communist opression of the Peoples Republic there is probably less news about Poland. But don't forget that the thesis of the student told part of the truth of Dutch media. The headlines were from my newspaper NRC Handelsblad. And I read a lot of headlines with positive or neutral statements about Poland. For instance about the Moderate and 'positive' foreign policy of the present Polish government. And about the present prime minister, minister of foreign affairs and the new Polish president.
I read the NRC Handelsblad, a newspaper which is not read by the Dutch masses of workers and middle class. The NRC Handelsblad is read by the elite of politicians, cultural minded entrepreneurs and academics. The general Dutch feeling about Poland and other nations is written down in the largest Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, and the other Newspapers Volkskrant, Trouw, Algemeen Dagblad and Parool. The NRC represents not the Dutch public opinion, but the opinion of the minority of people who read the newspaper.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Telegraaf
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algemeen_Dagblad
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkskrant
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouw
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Het_Parool

About the leading role of Poland, because in the Dutch press Poland is seen as the most succesful economy in Europe. There are interesting and profound articles and essays about Poland in for instance the NRC Handelsblad and more leftwing intellectual magazines like De Groene Amsterdammer and Vrij Nederland. That probaly has roots in the fascination and support for KOR and Solidarnosc by some Dutch *leftwing intellectuals. Writers, poets, journalists and some politicians in the late seventees and eightees. Today the Dutch political parties and governments have close contacts with their Polish counterparts. There are friendships between Polish and Dutch politicians.


Mient Jan Faber

The Peaceactivist Mient Jan Faber was an example of a Dutch Left-intellectual, who supported Central- and East-European dissidents. He had contact with Solidarnosc. He was monitored carefully by the Central- and East-European secret services. Many old Dutch people never forget the Polish soldiers that liberated them. Dutch miners had Polish colleages who became friends! The mines are gone but the memories stayed. The former Dutch minister for European Affairs in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet, Frans Timmermans has a friendship with Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, the Polish minister of European Affairs. Timmermans is a parlaimentarian for Labour today. His father an grandfather were Limburgian miners with Polish colleages.


The former Dutch minister for European Affairs Frans Timmermans

Pieter

Links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Groene_Amsterdammer
* pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Mak
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vrij_Nederland

[pjotr]

Sept 17, 2010 7:06:39 GMT 1 tufta said:

Pieter, I have never heard of Poles serving in SS. In Wehrmacht there were many Poles, especially from those regions of Poland which Germans treated as 'their land'. They were conscripted against their will. Especially dramatic situations happened in Śląsk - Silesia, a region in South-Western Poland. There were sometimes situations there when on e brother served in German army and the other in Polish army.
But these are marginal and almost forgotten stories nowadays.

Thank god! I already regreted starting this subject. It was just a story I heard from a Varsovian, who lives in Warszawa today. That's all.

Indeed the story of the Polish soldiers who were forced to serve in the Wehrmacht, the army of the enemy Nazi regime is tragic. In that time you could not refuse militairy service, because you were executed if you deserted.

[pjotr]

Sept 17, 2010 16:09:46 GMT 1 tufta said:

Sept 17, 2010 8:41:26 GMT 1 pjotr said:

You could describe my position as somewhere inbetween his view and your view.

His presentation revealed what we already in a way know about Western European societies. They are deeply and profoundly hipocritical in certain aspects. I don't mean by that we the Poles are angels of being fair and just. We are simply talking about something different.

Tufta,

Yes, they are hipocritical in the aspect that they were and are firm supporters of the European Union, but do not accept the consequences of that. I am talking about the political class on the National, regional and local level. Because they have to deal with Polish migration and immigration on those levels. Next to that we have a written press and audio-visual media (Radio and Television) who often lack a propper research journalism, due to a deterioration of the quality of journalistic work of journalists and reporters and due to cutbacks, privatizations, cut backs and takeovers of media. It told you that the Dutch people in general know little about Poland and Poles, and therefor they also know little about the Polish diaspora in the Netherlands. They don't know if most Poles are migrants or immigrants, why they are here and where they live or are concentrated in communities or living as individuals or families. In my opinion, most Poles in the Netherlands are migrants, who are temporary overhere, to study or work, and who will return to Poland.
A lot of Poles are invisible, because they married with Dutch people, have Dutch numberplates on their car (The Dutch Poles) or German numberplates (because part of the Poles here are German Poles. Polish immigrants to Germany who work or study in the Netherlands, but have a Polish identity and culture). Sometimes it is hard to recognise a person as a Pole, because many Poles speak German or English in the Netherlands. Some of them perfectly without the typical slav accent. It is also difficult to find information about Dutch Poles or Polish migrants on the internet or libraries. You have to know the organisations of Diaspora or institutions who study demographics, migration and immigration.

Pieter

[pjotr]

Sept 17, 2010 16:09:46 GMT 1 tufta said:

Sept 17, 2010 8:41:26 GMT 1 pjotr said:

You could describe my position as somewhere inbetween his view and your view.

The only downfall which I notice in the paper is, as I said, lack of differentiation between Polish immigrants into Netherlands, and the Polish migrant workers who do not have an intention to stay for life there, and which just use their basic right to travel for work freely in the EU borders. But this mistake of the author is very telling - perhaps the Dutch society as a whole does not differentiate those groups of people.

Tufta,

I think that I and my Dutch compatriots are aware that the Polish migrant workers do not have an intention to stay for life here in the Netherlands, and that they just use their basic right to travel for work freely within the EU borders. They may not like it but they are pragmatic and realistic enough to realize that the Poles have a full right to stay here, work here, and make a profit with business, construction of houses, 'the restoration of old houses' business. Poles are good craftsmen, have skills which are nearly lost in the West, because they rebuilt old cities from it's ashes and restored a lot of sites, places, palaces and buildings. The Dutch employers and Dutch citizens know this. And often Dutch employers or Dutch citizens prefer to employ Polish workers, because they are 'better' than Dutch workers and have a better work ethics. They simply work harder and more professional than their 'in Dutch eyes' lazy, and slow Dutch colleages. Actually the Dutch are hard workers, but the Poles even work harder. The situation in Germany is the same. German employers and citizens prefer to employ Polish workers. The Dutch and German building worker is spoiled by the power of the Dutch and German Unions, the powerful leftwing political parties who enforced a sort of levelling in the second half of the 20th century, and the wellfare state with it's very advanced social security system.
It is remarkable that in fact especially the conservative 'old left', Socialist party and Labour were defenders of the Dutch worker and hostile towards 'foreign workers' to a certain degree. The notion of Internationalism of the International socialist movement was abandoned and both parties choose a 'National road'.

Part of the Dutch xenophobia is based on the notion of 'Dutch workers and Middle class first ideology' of a part of the left and the right. The far right PVV borrowed and hijacked this theme of the old left, and merged it with it's new Populist Rightwing ideology, and centre-right political views which Geert Wilders took with him when he abandoned his old party, the conservative-liberal VVD.

The left is split in the Conservative traditional socialist (Progressive Nationalist) Socialist party and the social conservative wing of labour and the internationalist, cosmopolitian left-intellectual liberal wing of Labour and the Green-Left party.

The rightwing parties are very selfcentered, Dutch isolationalist oriented today. Accept the economy ofcourse, because the Netherlands are forced to be international due to the very important role of import and export on the Dutch economy. The Dutch economy is trade and distribution based.

Pieter

[Bonobo]

The Polish government has honoured staff at a forgotten enclave in the British countryside known as ‘Little Poland’.

Ilford Park, which lies in the south western county of Devon, was set up by the British government as one of 45 camps in the U.K for refugees who were unwilling to return to Communist-run Poland after the war.

Whilst many of the children that grew up at Ilford later integrated into British society, the site still houses a number of elderly Poles, all of them veterans of the Second World War.

The home is funded by Britain’s Ministry of Defence, which is honouring a pledge made by Churchill in the aftermath of the war to the effect that London would shelter Polish refugees.

Most of the residents hailed from Poland’s Eastern borderlands, which were lost in the Yalta Agreement of 1945, as consented to by Churchill and Roosevelt, in accordance with Stalin’s wishes.

Jan Ciechanowski, Poland’s Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, visited the camp this week during a five-day-trip to the U.K.

The minister presented the Pro Memoria medals to four members of the staff, including manager Clare Thomas.

‘Receiving this award was a real surprise and I’m very honoured,’ Thomas told local paper the Herald Express.

‘Our staff here work extremely hard to look after our residents,’ she added, noting that many of the Ilford Poles ‘took great personal risks to defend the UK during World War II.’

Besides the carers ,Minister Ciechanowski also bestowed a medal on 98-year-old former fighter pilot Mieczyslaw Juny, a former recipent of the British MBE.